Jiekai Liao

I am shooting a short film in 2 weeks time. The entire film takes place at night. I am using the HVR-Z1U camera, shooting standard definition on DVCAM. I have a question about cineframe 30 and cineframe 24. is it better to use these modes available in-camera, or will shooting 60i and then deinterlacing in post using Compressor 2 yield a better result? thanks. jiekai

I will recommend the Manfrotto 745B MDEVE sticks. They are pretty decent priced for a 50mm half bowl, which in my opinion is really important for fast levelling. And they can go as low as 22mm, which is nice. I use them with a 503 head, which makes it a little pricey, but I really recommend the sticks. I have used the tripod with both super 8mm cameras (nikon r8) and video cameras (consumer, canon GL2, Panasonic DVX100, Sony Z1U) and I don't have any problems at all. It is a nice light weight tripod. I can even put them in my luggage to check in at airports. :-p jiekai

core adaptors like these are hard to find these days. try ebay. jiekai

I once made a short on 16mm b/w, shot on an arri S without sound recording. There is only one line of dialogue. Everything is shot on one location in the streets. I tried going back the same location, have some friends re-enact the situation and record the action sounds, but it snowed badly that day and there is no way I can get any usable audio. In the end, I have my friends re-enact the scene in my apartment, I recorded the sounds and surprisingly manage to sync it all up in Pro-tools, a little manipulation is necessary, but after overlaying a noisy street ambience, all the imperfections are covered. My one line of dialogue is being dubbed in a studio and synced up in pro tools too. I used a TASCAM dat recorder to record the sounds. That is my experience, if it is helpful to you. jiekai liao

I made my first short film with an arri-s, with no sound recording. i can only say that doing 100 percent MOS is painful. I spent weeks collecting, matching and syncing sounds. Yet because the sound was meticulously collected and matched up, the sound works better than any of my other stuff shot with sync. :-p I think that shooting sync is a good backup, in case dubbing just sound too fake. But sound designs or sound effects in post is still important. Time is also a factor. If you are shooting in extreme conditions, or it is a shoot-and-run situation, getting the picture is still the priority. my humble opinions. jiekai

Of course there is always this thin line between the definitive roles of individuals on a film set, I believe that certain balance must be establish. If everyone is to be dead set to his/her own roles, there is no room for improvisation or suggestion, filmmaking is teamwork afterall; at the sametime, suggestions must also be make in consideration of the professional position of the recipient, in your case, as a DP. It is the director's call to define the limitations of these roles, and to establish a level of mutual understanding between the crew. jiekai

I am in a college now, studying filmmaking. I realized that the academic classes from literature, social sciences, history gave me a much more wider perspective of the world, that is really the purpose of tertiary education. It gives me subject matter that I am interested to discuss in my own filmmaking, point of views that i want to advocate and mature not only as a filmmaker but as a thinker. jiekai 3rd year student @ the School of the Art Institute of Chicago :-p

I am an undergraduate film student from chicago, going to Prague for a school trip (6 weeks), hence bringing my Nikon R8 along to shoot some stuff. Just wondering whether anyone knows anything about purchasing film stock, processing and telecine in the Czech Republic, or any other nearby countries. I intend to shoot a combination of color and b/w reversal. thanks! jiekai

The polarities of the batteries are absolutely correct. The camera is absolutely dead now, cant even run at all. Guess I have to send it to repair a day after getting it :-(

I just bought a Nikon R8 in ebay for 150 dollars. Just recieved it today. I put in 6 new AA batteries and tried to run the camera (dry. without footage), nothing happened. I tried to use the power zoom, some times it works, some times it doesn't. At times, the battery casing (the hand grip) got really really hot. I left it aside for a while, and tried running it again. now it only power zooms out, but not in. And I can only run the camera when I hold on to the zoom out button while depressing the camera trigger. which is really weird. I left it aside for a while again. And now it runs fine. but still cannot power zoom in. and occasionally, after cooling down, I cannot run it again properly. What is wrong with the camera? Is it a problem of age? is such temperamental behavior normal for an old super 8 camera? need some advice :-p iakeij

I was in a pretty light proof room transfering 400 feet of "Eastman High Contrast Positive Film2 7363" to 4 seperate daylight spools so that I can shoot on a bolex. I had taped up the edges of the door; there are no other areas of possible light leaks into the room. Ten minutes into the transfer, I turned my back and discovered this glaring red bulb of light in a hidden corner of the room, which I had not discovered. It is a really small bulb, I have no idea whether it is the kinda light they used in photographic dark rooms or not, but in any case, my film is possibly exposed to that light for ten mins straight. The light is approx 20 feet away from the rewinder where I am working on the transfer. I immediately sealed whatever I have not transfered, taped up the red light, and then proceed on and finished the transfer. I know it is very difficult to judge the extent the film is being exposed to this small bulb, as I have provided very minimal information. But considering the fact that the bulb is small, and the stock is High contrast extremely low sensitivity film stock, can I remedy the situation by rating the stock slightly higher? Do you think that the film is totally burnt out in that ten mins, and I should not consider using it at all? advice needed. thanks!

Hi, I am shooting a short sequence outdoors on 16mm Hi-Con stock. What should I rate ifor the ASA in the following situations: 1. overcast sky (negative) 2. overcast sky (reversal) 3. clear sky (negative) 4. clear sky (reversal) I had never shot on this stock before, hence need some advice in getting good exposures. And if possible share some experience in shooting Hi-con stock!

I am offered a Nikon R-10 at $250. it's automatic exposure is not working, ie manual exposure only. Is it worth the money? Is automatic exposure absolute necessary? I worked mainly with 16mm and think that it is nice to invest in a handy super8mm camera to do some casual shooting, I probably favor manual exposures as I want control over the look of what I shot, but I do not really understand the mechanics of a super8mm camera, maybe the automatic function may be useful or necessary. How do you rate this deal? advice will be most appreciated!

I had faced this problem a couple of weeks ago when choosing stock for my film. 7229 v 7218. Ive seen Kodak's demo DVD for the new vision 2 series, and 7229 looks really grainy. The stock is actually pretty good if shot on 35mm ie using 5229, but on 16mm the grain is really bad. I used 7218 eventually and during the telecine transfer i asked the colorist to desaturated the colors, the end product is pretty similar to what 7229 have to offer, but the grains are much finer :-p